Sunday, July 13, 2008
Update, sort of
Hello all, Carl and I are alive and well in Egypt, having a good time. It's been pretty busy, so I haven't had time to write up any of the adventures in detail, but a quick run down would be: Traveling through upper Egypt (ironically that's the southern part), seeing the High Dam at Aswan, visiting the Temples of Ramses II at Abu Simbel, Temple of Isis at Philea, Temples at Kom Ombo and Edfu, spending two nights on a feluca (small sailboat floating very slowly on the Nile), swimming in the Nile, and spending time with an eclectic group of travelers. It's been fun, and pretty intense. I've been trying to upload pictures, but without much success. I'll add pictures and more info later. -Macleod
Sunday, July 6, 2008
A little taste of Dahab
Hanging out in Dahab I understand why some people stop by here on a long holiday and end up scrapping the rest of the plans to just lounge around on the beach. Once you get the need to actually be doing something out of your system being content in Dahab feels so natural.
Take for example a typical dining experience:
After a day of scuba diving, reading, walking about, general nothingness we head to the Funny Mummy Restaurant, right on the water. As we walk through the hotel's open plaza area, Omar, the owner greets us with a handshake and fist bump, he walks with us with his muddled Egyptian/English accent, telling about the three German girls that just arrived. On the way to the beach front we get a bunch of "Hey Buddies" "How you doin man?"and high fives from the other staff. Its after sunset, but still very warm, but theres a cool breeze coming off the water. Jimmy, the owner of the Funny Mummy sees us coming and points over to a table right next to the lapping waves. The seating here is different, very Arabian--really more lounging. The tables are only about a foot tall, and you sit basically on the floor, which is covered in Persian carpets, slightly raised around the tables. Each seating area is surround by large pillows propped up against palm tree trunks. Everything is dimly lit, candles or covered lamps, with the stars out over the Red sea. Across the water you can see a couple towns lit up in Saudi Arabia, maybe only 30 miles away.
The whole atmosphere encourages relaxation, dim lighting, the background music a mix of fusion, trance, and jazz with Arabic influences. We sit down and order mint tea before any food, and sit back to take in the night's smells; spices from dishes at the other tables, a little salt in the air from the sea, sweet smells from neighbors smoking flavored Egyptian tobacco. The mint tea has a cooling effect despite being hot. Menu options range from pizzas, burgers, and normal western food to kebabs, hummus, and Arabic stews. Overall the whole dining process takes three hours, with a lot of just lying back and taking it all in. I imagine if I had something to do it may feel boring, or too drawn out, but you just inhale the different smells, look up at the stars and listen to the sounds of the waves and just forget about any plans for the future.
Every once in a while one of the locals we met stops by just to chat, talking about snorkeling, windsurfing or just beach life. It may be a gimmick, but you feel very welcome here, instead of them wanting something from you, they just want to hang out. We have a lot of Egypt to see, all the history, the temples and pyramids, but right now theres no rush to do anything. The Sphinx was built over 3000 years ago, it can wait a couple more days.
Take for example a typical dining experience:
After a day of scuba diving, reading, walking about, general nothingness we head to the Funny Mummy Restaurant, right on the water. As we walk through the hotel's open plaza area, Omar, the owner greets us with a handshake and fist bump, he walks with us with his muddled Egyptian/English accent, telling about the three German girls that just arrived. On the way to the beach front we get a bunch of "Hey Buddies" "How you doin man?"and high fives from the other staff. Its after sunset, but still very warm, but theres a cool breeze coming off the water. Jimmy, the owner of the Funny Mummy sees us coming and points over to a table right next to the lapping waves. The seating here is different, very Arabian--really more lounging. The tables are only about a foot tall, and you sit basically on the floor, which is covered in Persian carpets, slightly raised around the tables. Each seating area is surround by large pillows propped up against palm tree trunks. Everything is dimly lit, candles or covered lamps, with the stars out over the Red sea. Across the water you can see a couple towns lit up in Saudi Arabia, maybe only 30 miles away.
The whole atmosphere encourages relaxation, dim lighting, the background music a mix of fusion, trance, and jazz with Arabic influences. We sit down and order mint tea before any food, and sit back to take in the night's smells; spices from dishes at the other tables, a little salt in the air from the sea, sweet smells from neighbors smoking flavored Egyptian tobacco. The mint tea has a cooling effect despite being hot. Menu options range from pizzas, burgers, and normal western food to kebabs, hummus, and Arabic stews. Overall the whole dining process takes three hours, with a lot of just lying back and taking it all in. I imagine if I had something to do it may feel boring, or too drawn out, but you just inhale the different smells, look up at the stars and listen to the sounds of the waves and just forget about any plans for the future.
Every once in a while one of the locals we met stops by just to chat, talking about snorkeling, windsurfing or just beach life. It may be a gimmick, but you feel very welcome here, instead of them wanting something from you, they just want to hang out. We have a lot of Egypt to see, all the history, the temples and pyramids, but right now theres no rush to do anything. The Sphinx was built over 3000 years ago, it can wait a couple more days.
The Land of Pharaohs... not quite
On July 4th, America's birthday, I traveled from one middle eastern country to another, paying for it at least partially with my economic stimulus check. God Bless the US of A. I'm now in Egypt, although not the traditional Egypt, with the tombs and pyramids and all that. We're staying Dahab, a small town along the gulf of Aqaba, north of the Red Sea on the Sinai peninsula. Our hotel is the Bishbishi Garden Village, run by two very affable brothers. The older one, Jimmy, also owns the Funny Mummy Restaurant and runs a travel agent like business. He helps us set up the rest of our trip, basically getting us to the Nile river and up to Cairo, seeing the sites on the way. Our first night in Dahab was spent traveling to the middle of the Sinai peninsula. By 2 am we were at the bottom of Mount Sinai, you know, the ten commandments one. We hiked up (along with like a billion others) and found a "soft" spot of rock to nap on until sun rise. After about an hour and a half of being cold and uncomfortable we watched the sun rise over the mountains. It was pretty awesome, being (again) where Moses stood.
On the way down instead of taking the normal camel path, like most of the others (there were seriously hordes of people up on the mount) we took the steps of repentance, allegedly built by an anonymous pilgrim about a thousand years ago, 3000 steps from the top to bottom. About a quarter way down I take a wrong step and roll my ankle, the one I injured playing soccer the week before we left, making the rest of the steps down right miserable, but I guess I had a lot to repent for so it might have been appropriate. This morning I awoke without a ton of swelling and I can walk almost normal, so things should be alright. Thats all for now, I have to get ready for a scuba dive. Peace out!
On the way down instead of taking the normal camel path, like most of the others (there were seriously hordes of people up on the mount) we took the steps of repentance, allegedly built by an anonymous pilgrim about a thousand years ago, 3000 steps from the top to bottom. About a quarter way down I take a wrong step and roll my ankle, the one I injured playing soccer the week before we left, making the rest of the steps down right miserable, but I guess I had a lot to repent for so it might have been appropriate. This morning I awoke without a ton of swelling and I can walk almost normal, so things should be alright. Thats all for now, I have to get ready for a scuba dive. Peace out!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Still in Jordan
Ok, we're back in Amman, which means I'm able to properly write about our travels. I left off with the bathhouse, relaxing, but to be honest, a little awkward. Ask me about it in person some time, including "number 39 from Syria."
Anyway, after a couple days in Amman we headed south to the perhaps main attraction in Jordan--Petra. To avoid spending 70 jds (Jordanian Dinars) by taxi, we take the local bus. /its crowded, slightly smelly, and we're only mostly sure its going where we need to go--not the last time we'll have that feeling. It only takes about 3 hours to get to the town of Wadi Musa. Wadi means valley or river, Musa is Arabic for Moses. We stay at the Mussa Springs hotel, by Ain Musa (which means Springs of Moses, following along?). This is one of the places scholars believe Moses struck the rock to create a spring of water for the Israelite's to drink in the wilderness, its also the town right outside Petra.
Petra is a two thousand + year old city carved into the walls of a canyon. This form of construction protected it from years of abuse and left it in magnificent condition, with the exceptions of any images of people, those were destroyed by religious zealots (the iconoclastic controversy). The most famous of these carvings has to be The Treasury--as seen in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This is the first site you see after walking through the narrow canyon to get into Petra. It was pretty awesome, although some of the majesty and mystique was ruined by the arguing salesmen trying to get these poor women to rent a camel or donkey to carry them back up to town. On Saturday Griz and I explore the sites, walking around in the sun for 6 hours, it was a blast, hiking forgotten trails and exploring empty tombs. One of our favorites was The Monastery, a massive structure carved up atop one of the near by hills, it was up 800 steps and about a good bit of hiking. The site is just as big, if not larger than the Treasury, but with less touristy stuff around.
After a long day we headed back to the palatial Mussa Springs hotel--it cost us only 6jds per night per person, so like less than $10. And we got what we paid for, two bathrooms per floor, no tp (we stole some from the visitors center), pillows that felt like someone threw sod in a bag and slapped it on a bed. There was, however, one gem of Jordan--nay, of the whole Middle East--available to us. MBC 2. Words can only begin to describe its beauty. MBC 2 is a b-rated American movie treasure trove, all subtitled in Arabic, with a repeating group of maybe 8 Arabic commercials--favorite quote from Griz: "Chai latte Jadid". There were non-stop hits like "The Arrival" "Bugs" (not the animated one, but more like Starship Troopers in a subway) and "Barbershop II, Back in Business." After a long day of walking we gorged ourselves on hollywoods scrapings from the bottle of the barrel. Also watching the "bowchicka wow wow" Axe commercial in Arabic is pretty funny.
WE made it back to Amman, after a bus ride were our presence may have almost started a fight--there was lots of yelling and pointing at us, eventually things settled down, except for the dirty looks. From there we started to plan out the next 25 or so days. After all, we have only a plane ticket home on the 24th, the rest is up the in air. Of the 6 major things we wanted to see in Jordan, two were done. The rest would need to fit in the next 5 days. We set off on Tuesday for Madaba, a city just south of Amman. From there we took a tour of Jesus's Baptism site, the Dead Sea, and Mount Nebo. The baptism site was really interesting, and very inspiring, standing in the steps of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. The Jordan river is significantly smaller these days, having to provide water for a much larger population, so the pool where Jesus was baptized is very different now.
The Dead Sea was neat-o. Its at the lowest point on earth (about 440 meters below sea level) and at one of the hottest places in Jordan. The Sea has no outflow, but water is evaporated at a rate of one million liters per day, leaving all the mineral deposits behind. What you end up with is a body of water with about 10 times the salt content as the ocean. We both went for a swim and you cannot help but float. Also, I became quickly aware of any tiny cuts and scraped on my skin. Griz took a picture of me at one point while a little bit of water had dripped in to my eyes, its a funny sight, you can sea the pain on my face.
Mount Nebo is also a very historic place. Because Moses disobeyed God (striking the rock instead of speaking to it--see above, Ain Musa) we was not allowed into the promised land. It was from atop Mount Nebo that he looked into what would later become Israel. He also died at the mountain top. In one short trip we had seen two immensely important sites from the Bible and Christian history.
We are now back in Amman, again, at our "home base." Tomorrow we are off to Jerash, an old roman town in the north, and then to Egypt on Friday. Friday also marks the halfway point of our trip, and its going by at an unusual pace, sometimes very very slowly, but then again, we are in the land where history came from. How do you measure time in a country that was thriving before the Romans or Greeks?
p.s. some new pictures are up
Anyway, after a couple days in Amman we headed south to the perhaps main attraction in Jordan--Petra. To avoid spending 70 jds (Jordanian Dinars) by taxi, we take the local bus. /its crowded, slightly smelly, and we're only mostly sure its going where we need to go--not the last time we'll have that feeling. It only takes about 3 hours to get to the town of Wadi Musa. Wadi means valley or river, Musa is Arabic for Moses. We stay at the Mussa Springs hotel, by Ain Musa (which means Springs of Moses, following along?). This is one of the places scholars believe Moses struck the rock to create a spring of water for the Israelite's to drink in the wilderness, its also the town right outside Petra.
Petra is a two thousand + year old city carved into the walls of a canyon. This form of construction protected it from years of abuse and left it in magnificent condition, with the exceptions of any images of people, those were destroyed by religious zealots (the iconoclastic controversy). The most famous of these carvings has to be The Treasury--as seen in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This is the first site you see after walking through the narrow canyon to get into Petra. It was pretty awesome, although some of the majesty and mystique was ruined by the arguing salesmen trying to get these poor women to rent a camel or donkey to carry them back up to town. On Saturday Griz and I explore the sites, walking around in the sun for 6 hours, it was a blast, hiking forgotten trails and exploring empty tombs. One of our favorites was The Monastery, a massive structure carved up atop one of the near by hills, it was up 800 steps and about a good bit of hiking. The site is just as big, if not larger than the Treasury, but with less touristy stuff around.
After a long day we headed back to the palatial Mussa Springs hotel--it cost us only 6jds per night per person, so like less than $10. And we got what we paid for, two bathrooms per floor, no tp (we stole some from the visitors center), pillows that felt like someone threw sod in a bag and slapped it on a bed. There was, however, one gem of Jordan--nay, of the whole Middle East--available to us. MBC 2. Words can only begin to describe its beauty. MBC 2 is a b-rated American movie treasure trove, all subtitled in Arabic, with a repeating group of maybe 8 Arabic commercials--favorite quote from Griz: "Chai latte Jadid". There were non-stop hits like "The Arrival" "Bugs" (not the animated one, but more like Starship Troopers in a subway) and "Barbershop II, Back in Business." After a long day of walking we gorged ourselves on hollywoods scrapings from the bottle of the barrel. Also watching the "bowchicka wow wow" Axe commercial in Arabic is pretty funny.
WE made it back to Amman, after a bus ride were our presence may have almost started a fight--there was lots of yelling and pointing at us, eventually things settled down, except for the dirty looks. From there we started to plan out the next 25 or so days. After all, we have only a plane ticket home on the 24th, the rest is up the in air. Of the 6 major things we wanted to see in Jordan, two were done. The rest would need to fit in the next 5 days. We set off on Tuesday for Madaba, a city just south of Amman. From there we took a tour of Jesus's Baptism site, the Dead Sea, and Mount Nebo. The baptism site was really interesting, and very inspiring, standing in the steps of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth. The Jordan river is significantly smaller these days, having to provide water for a much larger population, so the pool where Jesus was baptized is very different now.
The Dead Sea was neat-o. Its at the lowest point on earth (about 440 meters below sea level) and at one of the hottest places in Jordan. The Sea has no outflow, but water is evaporated at a rate of one million liters per day, leaving all the mineral deposits behind. What you end up with is a body of water with about 10 times the salt content as the ocean. We both went for a swim and you cannot help but float. Also, I became quickly aware of any tiny cuts and scraped on my skin. Griz took a picture of me at one point while a little bit of water had dripped in to my eyes, its a funny sight, you can sea the pain on my face.
Mount Nebo is also a very historic place. Because Moses disobeyed God (striking the rock instead of speaking to it--see above, Ain Musa) we was not allowed into the promised land. It was from atop Mount Nebo that he looked into what would later become Israel. He also died at the mountain top. In one short trip we had seen two immensely important sites from the Bible and Christian history.
We are now back in Amman, again, at our "home base." Tomorrow we are off to Jerash, an old roman town in the north, and then to Egypt on Friday. Friday also marks the halfway point of our trip, and its going by at an unusual pace, sometimes very very slowly, but then again, we are in the land where history came from. How do you measure time in a country that was thriving before the Romans or Greeks?
p.s. some new pictures are up
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Livin' it up in the transjordan
We made it to Jordan, and its a great place. Better still, we are being taken care of pretty well too. At least in Amman. We arrived late (or really early the next day) on Tuesday and got a ride from the airport in to town-it wasn't quite a taxi, just a guy making money on the side, if we were stopped by the police we were to tell them that we'd all been friends for two years. Carl's parents are friends with a Jordanian family that lives in Amman, the capital city. Lucky for us the want to take us in as guests. Everyone in the house speaks english, even the maid, yeah, they have a maid that's there all day. Sana (the mom) cooks us proper Jordanian food and helps us figure out where to go. The official language in Jordan is Arabic, but many people speak english-though not taxi drivers.
The main things to do in the capital are see some of the ancient roman ruins and walk through the town. Both of these can be done in one day, but you need to be prepared to spend alot of time walking in the hot Middle Eastern sun. On Wednesday we watched Germany beat Turkey in a nice restaurant, we were rooting for Germany, most of the other patrons were supporting Turkey. On Thursday we did the sightseeing bit, burning plenty of calories and large areas of skin as well. To recuperate we went to a hamman in the evening. Hammans are traditional Turkish bathhouses. You go through a progression of steam room, jacuzzi, hot rock bed, scrub, hot rock bed again, and the massage, with dead sea mud mask. It all sounds very girly, but in Jordan (not officially a Muslim country but with a big majority of Muslim population) its all separated by gender. Women can use it to 6 pm, men after, so it was an entirely masculine affair.
ok, for now this is where I stop, my time on the computer is run out, and the spell checkers not working, so I'll polish this and finish it later, peace!
The main things to do in the capital are see some of the ancient roman ruins and walk through the town. Both of these can be done in one day, but you need to be prepared to spend alot of time walking in the hot Middle Eastern sun. On Wednesday we watched Germany beat Turkey in a nice restaurant, we were rooting for Germany, most of the other patrons were supporting Turkey. On Thursday we did the sightseeing bit, burning plenty of calories and large areas of skin as well. To recuperate we went to a hamman in the evening. Hammans are traditional Turkish bathhouses. You go through a progression of steam room, jacuzzi, hot rock bed, scrub, hot rock bed again, and the massage, with dead sea mud mask. It all sounds very girly, but in Jordan (not officially a Muslim country but with a big majority of Muslim population) its all separated by gender. Women can use it to 6 pm, men after, so it was an entirely masculine affair.
ok, for now this is where I stop, my time on the computer is run out, and the spell checkers not working, so I'll polish this and finish it later, peace!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Blogs - home of the narcissist
It's kind of funny writing a blog, it's like your putting yourself out into the world, on display. I guess vulnerability is a way to put it. The weirder part is the narcissism in expecting others to go out of their way to read what I have to say. It's not like a conversation, nor an e-mail. E-mails get sent to people. You have to go out and search for a blog. What do I have to say that is so important that people will go out of their way to read my blog? And yet, even with this idea, here I am, writing, expecting at least someone - other than my family - to read my thoughts (hi mom).
If you are reading this then I guess you deserve more than some rambling about narcissism so I guess I should say something about what we are doing. I'm currently in South Queensferry--a suburb of the city of Edinburgh. Carl and I are staying with my Mother's Cousin, Fiona Stirrat and her family. They have been very welcoming, makings us feel quite at home. South Queensferry is about 20 minutes outside of Edinburgh city center by bus (side note: over here in the U.K. center is spelled centre, weird I know, but thats "the King's English"). We spent most of Saturday afternoon and evening in the city, walking around, avoiding the 12£ entry fee for the Edinburgh Castle (another side note: the £ sign means pounds, British currency, right now its about 2$ for every 1£ so 12£ is closer to 25$). There are plenty of good views from the downtown area and lots of other things to do. Around 7:30 we wandered into a pub to watch the Euro 2008 quarter final match between the Netherlands and Russia. Both Carl and I were rooting for the Dutch and lucky for us so were most of the other patrons, some decked out in bright orange to match their favored team. In the end Russia won the match after going in to overtime, but it was still quite and experience watching a football (soccer) match inside a crowded pub--especially after Ruud Van Nistelrooy equalized in the 86th minute for the Netherlands, there was pandemonium.
We joined the Stirrats at church the next day. The service was very similar to how we do things back on our side of the pond. Angus Stirrat (goes by Gus) played bass guitar for the worship band. He's really good, you can check him out on youtube (yeah they have it over here too). After church we had a little tour of the area, seeing the Falkirk Wheel (a revolutionary way to raise and lower boats on the canal... did you catch the pun?) and the Wallace monument. Today we've had a lazy day, getting things ready for the trip to Jordan tomorrow. So far we've been really well taken care of. That might continue in Jordan, but things will no doubt be different. Oh, Carl says hi as well.
Cheerio for now - Macleod
p.s. there are pictures of some of the sites posted, follow the link in the sidebar
If you are reading this then I guess you deserve more than some rambling about narcissism so I guess I should say something about what we are doing. I'm currently in South Queensferry--a suburb of the city of Edinburgh. Carl and I are staying with my Mother's Cousin, Fiona Stirrat and her family. They have been very welcoming, makings us feel quite at home. South Queensferry is about 20 minutes outside of Edinburgh city center by bus (side note: over here in the U.K. center is spelled centre, weird I know, but thats "the King's English"). We spent most of Saturday afternoon and evening in the city, walking around, avoiding the 12£ entry fee for the Edinburgh Castle (another side note: the £ sign means pounds, British currency, right now its about 2$ for every 1£ so 12£ is closer to 25$). There are plenty of good views from the downtown area and lots of other things to do. Around 7:30 we wandered into a pub to watch the Euro 2008 quarter final match between the Netherlands and Russia. Both Carl and I were rooting for the Dutch and lucky for us so were most of the other patrons, some decked out in bright orange to match their favored team. In the end Russia won the match after going in to overtime, but it was still quite and experience watching a football (soccer) match inside a crowded pub--especially after Ruud Van Nistelrooy equalized in the 86th minute for the Netherlands, there was pandemonium.
We joined the Stirrats at church the next day. The service was very similar to how we do things back on our side of the pond. Angus Stirrat (goes by Gus) played bass guitar for the worship band. He's really good, you can check him out on youtube (yeah they have it over here too). After church we had a little tour of the area, seeing the Falkirk Wheel (a revolutionary way to raise and lower boats on the canal... did you catch the pun?) and the Wallace monument. Today we've had a lazy day, getting things ready for the trip to Jordan tomorrow. So far we've been really well taken care of. That might continue in Jordan, but things will no doubt be different. Oh, Carl says hi as well.
Cheerio for now - Macleod
p.s. there are pictures of some of the sites posted, follow the link in the sidebar
Friday, June 20, 2008
Maybe too much time with family?
Good news, my bags arrived. It's actually old news too. We're now on the Isle of Mull, where my Mum is from (mum is the British way of saying mom, but I'm sure you already knew that). Before we got here though, we had a couple of days in Lewis. Driving my Gran's car was quite an experience, being a left hand drive car. The roads in Britain are switched, with people driving on the left rather than the right. Its a little bit of a trip, I kept going to the wrong side of the car to get into the drivers side.
The added freedom of having a car was great, we drove across the island to the Callanish stones. These standing stones were built approximately 5000 years ago by neolithic peoples. It's a pretty neat sight, like Stone Henge, but not quite as big, nor with any stones stacked upon one another. While it is smaller, it is also much more accessible, unlike Stone Henge, you could actually walk up to the towering stones, get up close and even touch them. We also used that freedom to visit the Lewis Castle Grounds, drive across the island the other way to see my other cousin's house. We also made a couple of visits to my Gran, a wonderful lady, just quite ...unique.
That Wednesday we took the early ferry off the island. It was a decent trip, however there was a family that did not quite understand the concept of a designated children's area. I was reading/trying to take a nap while a toddler was screaming up a storm. Carl was laughing at me, this not being the first time a good nap has been ruined by a screaming child. After we got off the ferry we took a warmer necessary bus to Inverness, then a stinky bus to Fort William, then by car with my mum to Mull.
On Mull Carl and I have been much more relaxed. We've stayed at either my Grandmother's house (who happens to dislike Carl, because he's German-they caused WWII) or at my cousin's hotel. We visited an old abbey where Christianity was first brought to Scotland, and generally had a slow paced time. Tomorrow we're off to Edinburgh, and then in only a few days off to Jordan.
Until next time - Macleod
p.s. pictures are up, check out the link off to the side (<== that way)
The added freedom of having a car was great, we drove across the island to the Callanish stones. These standing stones were built approximately 5000 years ago by neolithic peoples. It's a pretty neat sight, like Stone Henge, but not quite as big, nor with any stones stacked upon one another. While it is smaller, it is also much more accessible, unlike Stone Henge, you could actually walk up to the towering stones, get up close and even touch them. We also used that freedom to visit the Lewis Castle Grounds, drive across the island the other way to see my other cousin's house. We also made a couple of visits to my Gran, a wonderful lady, just quite ...unique.
That Wednesday we took the early ferry off the island. It was a decent trip, however there was a family that did not quite understand the concept of a designated children's area. I was reading/trying to take a nap while a toddler was screaming up a storm. Carl was laughing at me, this not being the first time a good nap has been ruined by a screaming child. After we got off the ferry we took a warmer necessary bus to Inverness, then a stinky bus to Fort William, then by car with my mum to Mull.
On Mull Carl and I have been much more relaxed. We've stayed at either my Grandmother's house (who happens to dislike Carl, because he's German-they caused WWII) or at my cousin's hotel. We visited an old abbey where Christianity was first brought to Scotland, and generally had a slow paced time. Tomorrow we're off to Edinburgh, and then in only a few days off to Jordan.
Until next time - Macleod
p.s. pictures are up, check out the link off to the side (<== that way)
Monday, June 16, 2008
We're here
Alright, first update since we left. Carl left way early on Saturday, I left latter in the afternoon. The plan was to meet in the Glasgow airport. The flights were uneventful, my dad thought I was going to miss one of my connections, but that went fine. At the Glasgow airport (in Scotland, right before our flight to the Island my dad grew up) I went to pick up my bag. I was supposed to recheck it in before the flight. After waiting for a while I saw Carl's bag, which wasn't supposed to be there, and no sight of mine, which was. It turned out that while I had made all of my connecting flights, my bag had not, it was still somewhere in Ireland. Carl's on the other hand was checked all the way through to Stornaway, but someone had taken it off by mistake. After filing a missing bag report I left Carl's with a baggage guy and it was sent to our flight.
The plane we flew on to Stornaway was tiny, 33 seats total. It was only a short flight, but after 16 hours of travelling for myself and 25 for Carl we were pretty much done with planes. My Aunt picked us up at the airport then we stopped by briefly for a visit at my Gran's. She recently had knee surgery which is the first thing to slow her down in 89 years. Of course she was upset that we were travelling on a Sunday, the Lords day, and made a point to tell us how they have fought very hard here on the Island to keep the sabbath holy, not allowing the commercial people corrupt the locals. She then interrogated Carl about his ancestors and where he's from. She is quite a unique woman, very set in her ways. After dinner we walked down to my cousin's house and chatted with them for a bit. By the time we left it was 10 pm, and we were dead tired from being on the go for over a day. Because the island is at about 58 degrees latitude (further north than Moscow, just south of Anchorage) it stays light very late during the summer. As we were walking home it looked as though it was only maybe 5 in the afternoon. It would really get dark until about midnight, and then light again by 3 am. Next weekend, with the longest day of the year, there will barely be a dark moment, maybe lasting about an hour. Its a little weird to experience, but I'd guess it would be even more odd in the winter when there's so little light.
Ok, well, we're here (minus my luggage), safe, and ready to have a rockin' good time.
-Macleod
p.s. Pictures comming soon
The plane we flew on to Stornaway was tiny, 33 seats total. It was only a short flight, but after 16 hours of travelling for myself and 25 for Carl we were pretty much done with planes. My Aunt picked us up at the airport then we stopped by briefly for a visit at my Gran's. She recently had knee surgery which is the first thing to slow her down in 89 years. Of course she was upset that we were travelling on a Sunday, the Lords day, and made a point to tell us how they have fought very hard here on the Island to keep the sabbath holy, not allowing the commercial people corrupt the locals. She then interrogated Carl about his ancestors and where he's from. She is quite a unique woman, very set in her ways. After dinner we walked down to my cousin's house and chatted with them for a bit. By the time we left it was 10 pm, and we were dead tired from being on the go for over a day. Because the island is at about 58 degrees latitude (further north than Moscow, just south of Anchorage) it stays light very late during the summer. As we were walking home it looked as though it was only maybe 5 in the afternoon. It would really get dark until about midnight, and then light again by 3 am. Next weekend, with the longest day of the year, there will barely be a dark moment, maybe lasting about an hour. Its a little weird to experience, but I'd guess it would be even more odd in the winter when there's so little light.
Ok, well, we're here (minus my luggage), safe, and ready to have a rockin' good time.
-Macleod
p.s. Pictures comming soon
Friday, June 13, 2008
Graduation and then some
It's the day before we leave, and things are all falling into place. The school year is over, the students have graduated, the classrooms have been cleaned up. Now we just have to pack. Carl is leaving in the wee hours of the mourning, I leave later, mid afternoon. We'll then meet up in Glasgow, Scotland Sunday, 5 pm local time. We're both packing extra outfits in our carry-on bags, as well as any vitals because its more than likely the bags won't arrive when we do. There may be an update before we leave, but for now, we'll see you again across the pond!
Happy Trails
Macleod
Happy Trails
Macleod
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Pictures!
I've uploaded some pictures from past travels, check them out.
Summer 06: http://picasaweb.google.com/rob.macleod/TopPicsFrom06
Summer 07: http://picasaweb.google.com/rob.macleod/TopPicsFrom07
Summer 06: http://picasaweb.google.com/rob.macleod/TopPicsFrom06
Summer 07: http://picasaweb.google.com/rob.macleod/TopPicsFrom07
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
So where am I now?
You know where I've been, but where to next? This summer is rapidly approaching, and on June 14th Volkhardt and I are off to Scotland. After 10 days in the land of my forefathers (and real father, and mother, and older brother) we leave on our way to the Middle East. First, for another 10 days, we will be staying with a Jordanian family in Amman, Jordan. Then from the southern tip of Jordan we will cross to the Sinai Peninsula and into Egypt. Egypt for another 20 days then home. So there you have it, 40 days, 3 countries (more if you include the layovers for me in Italy and Ireland, and Volkhardt in Turkey and Canada).
A little plug, my pictures for the summer will be posted on a picasa site. Check them out here. There maybe some stuff on my myspace. you can also on occasion here from me on my instant messenger name y0dude (its a zero, not an "o").
Peace - Macleod
A little plug, my pictures for the summer will be posted on a picasa site. Check them out here. There maybe some stuff on my myspace. you can also on occasion here from me on my instant messenger name y0dude (its a zero, not an "o").
Peace - Macleod
Saturday, May 24, 2008
A little bit of history
Alrighty, I guess I'll start one of these guys, after all, my life is really really interesting. Today I'm wasting the rest of the evening watching the recording of The Uefa Champions League Cup. The end of term is quickly approaching, and with that my travels are coming up quick too. I am
very excited, but not ready yet. I still have much to do, for work, school, and even friends weddings. So I guess my time could be better spent. Well, its a good game, so I can worry about the rest later.
The real purpose of this blog is the trip this summer. On June 14th I'm heading out with Griz for a forty day trip through Scotland and the Middle East. This is my third big trip in the last three summers.
Summer of 06 I went with Dusty, Casey, and Surfer Dan to Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Later Dusty and I split up and met with Jersey in Micronesia. I guess you could say I went to Japan, but we barley even left the airport. That was an awesome trip. We saw some great sites; Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Chang Mai in Thailand, the Petronas towers in K.L. Malaysia, all good times. Meeting up with Jersey was great too. He was in the middle of his two year stint in the Peace Corp. We got to stay with the Micronesian host family.
It was a Fantastic summer, and I almost immediately started thinking about the next summer.
very excited, but not ready yet. I still have much to do, for work, school, and even friends weddings. So I guess my time could be better spent. Well, its a good game, so I can worry about the rest later.The real purpose of this blog is the trip this summer. On June 14th I'm heading out with Griz for a forty day trip through Scotland and the Middle East. This is my third big trip in the last three summers.
Summer of 06 I went with Dusty, Casey, and Surfer Dan to Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Later Dusty and I split up and met with Jersey in Micronesia. I guess you could say I went to Japan, but we barley even left the airport. That was an awesome trip. We saw some great sites; Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Chang Mai in Thailand, the Petronas towers in K.L. Malaysia, all good times. Meeting up with Jersey was great too. He was in the middle of his two year stint in the Peace Corp. We got to stay with the Micronesian host family.It was a Fantastic summer, and I almost immediately started thinking about the next summer.
Summer 07 was on the other side of the world. First I went to Scotland with my parents, visiting family. My dad was given an honorary doctorate from his Alma Mater, Sterling University. I then flew to Portugal just for a day and a half to see a little bit of Lisbon, the capital city. After that I met up with Griz and Dusty in Madrid. 
We traveled around Spain, ran with the bulls in Pamplona, spent some time on the Mediterranean coast, then headed south to Morocco. Once in Morocco
we spent time in the big cities like Fez, Marrakesh, and Casablanca. we also took a three day excursion into the Sahara desert. Two days by camel and one day at the dunes. the dunes were massive, the desert was hot and the camels were temperamental. Oh, yeah, I forgot, I had a little different hair that summer. That trip was a blast, but my summer wasn't done yet. As soon as i returned home I was back off again. This time to South America.
My parents had planned a family trip with a couple other families. This time to Peru. The highlight was a four day hike along the Inca Trail to the lost city of Machu Pichu. After we reached the end of the trail we headed east to the Amazon Basin and spent a couple days trying out eco-tourism in a lodge by a rain forest jungle lake.
That was the end of my summer travels, but I headed back to Scotland once more in September for my cousins wedding, all decked out in kilts. Sorry no pictures though, I can't find them at the moment.
For those keeping score, thats Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Micronesia, Scotland, England, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Peru, El Salvador (only for 12 hours), and of course the United States. Six continents in 365 days. I'm off to a pretty good start, especially with where I'd had been with my family from college and before, but I still have a lot left. This year will help though.
Stay tuned for more.
We traveled around Spain, ran with the bulls in Pamplona, spent some time on the Mediterranean coast, then headed south to Morocco. Once in Morocco
we spent time in the big cities like Fez, Marrakesh, and Casablanca. we also took a three day excursion into the Sahara desert. Two days by camel and one day at the dunes. the dunes were massive, the desert was hot and the camels were temperamental. Oh, yeah, I forgot, I had a little different hair that summer. That trip was a blast, but my summer wasn't done yet. As soon as i returned home I was back off again. This time to South America.
My parents had planned a family trip with a couple other families. This time to Peru. The highlight was a four day hike along the Inca Trail to the lost city of Machu Pichu. After we reached the end of the trail we headed east to the Amazon Basin and spent a couple days trying out eco-tourism in a lodge by a rain forest jungle lake.That was the end of my summer travels, but I headed back to Scotland once more in September for my cousins wedding, all decked out in kilts. Sorry no pictures though, I can't find them at the moment.
For those keeping score, thats Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Micronesia, Scotland, England, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Peru, El Salvador (only for 12 hours), and of course the United States. Six continents in 365 days. I'm off to a pretty good start, especially with where I'd had been with my family from college and before, but I still have a lot left. This year will help though.
Stay tuned for more.
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